It ain't over till it's over...the weekend that is!

Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow

Etta James - At Last

Dire Straits - Live at the BBC

Atlanta Rhythm Section - Best

m pop muzik

Dance in the super market Dig it in the fast lane Listen to the countdown They're playing our song again

70's Pick of the Week

“Pop Muzic”, M (1979)

Somehow Brit Robin Scott thought this song bridged rock and roll and disco. He said he was deliberately trying to make a fusion of the sound of the previous 25 years. He was saying that rock and roll had created a generation gap, and he felt that disco was bringing people together. Somehow he ended up creating a very pure pop song – sort of imploding on itself. 

Scott had tried to create a persona for himself in 1978, “M”, when he released a song called “Moderne Man” which failed to chart. So he retrenched and tried again...

David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

Hey babe, your hair's alright Hey babe, let's stay out tonight

Songs Everyone Should Know

David Bowie, Rebel, Rebel (1974)

So is David Bowie an alien as his long-ago ex-wife Angela, might have us believe? Is he the Thin White Duke or Ziggy Stardust?

David Bowie was the male blue-print for Madonna, and now to a certain extent Lady Gaga – but the verdict is out. He reinvented himself so many times he didn’t know who he was at times I’m sure.  He was an innovator in how he looked, how he sounded, how he presented his material, and what it meant.

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Quick Hit

“You Gotta Serve Somebody”, Bob Dylan (1979)

What can be said about Bob Dylan that has not already been said?

Anyway, quick blog today because I missed his birthday yesterday when he turned 70 years old.

I do remember the song “Blowin’ In the Wind” when I was kid. They kind of played the crap out of it at one point on the radio. There seemed to be a fixation in the sixties with the wind: Wild is the Wind, Windy, Four Strong Winds, They Call the Wind Maria, and Summer Wind. This continued into the seventies with: Summer Breeze, Ride Like the Wind, Against the Wind, etc.

Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

I hear the rhythms of the music I buy the product and never use it I hear the talking of the DJ Can't understand just what does he say?

Quick Hit

“Mexican Radio”, Wall of Voodoo (1983)

Pretty much a one-hit-wonder, or as some say, a rare gem, “Mexican Radio” was reminiscent of an old Clint Eastwood movie or something. It was like something from a spaghetti western. I have always liked the sassy punk feel to this unorthodox ditty, with its strange synthesisers and funky percussion. It is just a lot of fun.

Brand New Key - Melanie

I rode my bicycle past your window last night I roller skated to your door at daylight It almost seems like you're avoiding me I'm okay alone, but you got something I need

From the Sappy Song Department

“Brand New Key” by Melanie (1972)

In the ‘Olden days”, roller skates were this kind of thing you stepped into with your regular shoe and tightened up with a key. I think I only tried them a couple of times and I think they sucked. When I was older I went to the rollercade where they still had the 4 wheels, but they had boots you put on. Much better control for doing trick skating or ‘dance’ skating like they did back in the day. Now of course they have come light years from where they were and are ‘in-line’. I am not sure you can actually do the same tricks with the in-line though. I mean can you really dance/skate to ‘Funky Town’ as well? Hmmm...

Old School

New School

This song came out the same year as Clint Homes, “Playground Of My Mind”. “Coconut” by Nillson came out just a bit earlier. There was an innocence that people were trying to recapture after the hippy generation I guess. 

Melanie Safka-Schekeryk, better known as just ‘Melanie’, (Did Cher start the trend of the whole one name thing? Before Madonna and long before Feist, Shakira, and Fergie) was a flower child; she went to art school, she was a folk singer, and she did gigs in Greenwich Village in the ‘60s.  Like a good flower child and self-proclaimed “libertarian”, she was influenced by the Indian mystic/spiritual leader Meher Baba.

Hope your day is going good so far. Let's rock a bit...

B-52s - The B-52s

Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' in The Moonlight

Doug and the Slugs - Slugology 101

Jack Green - Humanesque